Лорел Гамильтон - A Caress Of Twilight

Her smile slipped a fraction as she got a good look at us. She opened her mouth, said nothing.

I helped her. "Is there something you wanted, Dame Rosmerta?"

"Ah, yes, yes." She gathered herself visibly, remembering her duty. It seemed to steady her. "King Taranis would like to invite you to a feast in your honor a few days before Yule. We are very sorry for the misunderstanding about the Yule ball. We understand completely that you must, of course, attend the festivities at your own court." She smiled and it was just the right amount of silly ol' us, but we've fixed it now. It might even have been sincere.

I was tired. Nicca and Rhys had begun to routinely share their nights with me. I think it was purely so that they both got two nights in a row, rather than one having any preference over the other; but it meant that my night had been very busy. Since we didn't have to go to work we hadn't worried about the late hours. Now here was Rosmerta looking daisy fresh at eight in the morning. It was discouraging.

Why was the King so insistent on seeing me before Yule? Was it about Maeve? Something else? Why did he want to see me now? He'd never given a damn about seeing me before.

"Dame Rosmerta," I said, and tried not to sound as tired as I felt, "I need to be blunt here, which I know isn't polite, but I need some questions answered before I say yes or no to the feast."

"Of course, Princess," she said, making a slight bow as she said my title.

"Why is my presence so important to the king that he would give a feast in my honor days before Yule? The entire court has been working and planning for the ball for months. The servants and the functionaries must be frantic at the thought of a feast only days before the great event. Why would the king need to see me so badly before Yule?"

Her smile never changed, never wavered. "For that you would have to ask the king himself."

"That would be lovely," I said, "if you would be so kind as to put him on."

That threw her; confusion chased across her pretty face. I think most people would have just accepted that you didn't get to talk directly to the king, but too many important things were afoot to be that polite.

Rosmerta recovered, not as quickly as you'd have thought, but finally said, "I will ask His Majesty if he could speak with you. His schedule is very full, though, so I can make no promises."

"I wouldn't ask you to make a promise on Taranis's part, Dame Rosmerta. And I'm sure his schedule is very full; but I really do need the question answered. I cannot possibly agree to the feast without an answer, and I think getting the answer directly from the king should speed things up considerably." I smiled as I spoke, mirroring her own pleasant, nearly professional smile.

"I will give him the message. He may contact you rather quickly, so may I humbly suggest that you take this time to dress and present yourself in a manner more befitting your station." She smiled while she said it, but there was a tightness around her eyes that said she wasn't sure she should have said anything. Or maybe my thoughts were showing on my face while she was speaking.

"I think that I will present myself to the king as I see fit, Rosmerta." I'd left off the Dame deliberately. She was a minor noblewoman, and I outranked her. That I gave her the courtesy of her title was just that, a courtesy. I didn't have to do it.

"I meant no disrespect, Princess Meredith." She wasn't smiling now. Her face had closed down into that icy beauty that the sidhe are so capable of.

I ignored it, because to say almost anything was to accuse her of lying. Maybe she hadn't meant to be disrespectful; maybe she just couldn't help herself. "As that may be, Dame Rosmerta, as that may be. I look forward to hearing from the king. Do you think he will call back before we have time to rise for the day?"

"I did not realize that I had woken you, Princess, I am most humbly sorry." She looked it. "I will make sure that you are given time to rise and do your morning. . duties." She actually blushed a little, and I wondered what word she'd thought of before duties or exactly what she thought my morning duties were.

I realized suddenly that Rosmerta had thought we were having sex, not waking up. Andais did answer the Seelie in flagrante delicto more often than not, or nearly so. Maybe they expected the same of me.

"I thank you for the time, Dame Rosmerta. It is most unseemly to be roused from your early morning bed to speak with a king."

She smiled and gave me a very pretty curtsy, almost disappearing below the mirror's edge. Rosmerta was the picture of absolute propriety. A deep curtsy from her was high praise indeed, for it meant she understood I was but a step away from the throne. It was nice to know that someone in the Seelie Court understood that.

She didn't rise, and I realized, a little late, why. "You may rise, Dame Rosmerta, and I thank you."

She came to her feet, a little unsteady, but I'd left her in a deep curtsy for too long. I hadn't meant to. I just had forgotten that the Seelie Court was a lot like the English court; once you curtsied you really couldn't rise until acknowledged by the royal before you. It had been a very long time since I was among the Seelie. I was going to be a little rusty on court protocol. The Unseelie Court was much less formal.

"I will speak with His Majesty on your behalf, Princess Meredith. Good day to you."

"And good day to you, as well, Dame Rosmerta."

The mirror went blank. I felt all three of us relax, let out a breath.

Rhys put both his hands behind his head, crossed his ankles, and said, "What do you think? Maybe a little jewelry so we'll be more formal?"

I gazed down the length of his body, remembering the feel of my tongue running over his firm stomach, sliding lower. I had to close my eyes and evict the thought before I could answer.

"No, Rhys, I think clothes first. We'll worry about accessorizing later."

He grinned up at me. "Oh, I don't know, Merry. Aren't you the least bit tempted to have all of us on the bed when he calls? You, draped in bodies."

I started to say no. Then realized it was a lie. "A little tempted, yes, but we're going to behave ourselves, Rhys."

His grin widened. "If you insist."

"You're the one that's always going on about, ooh, the King of Light and Illusion. Why the change of heart now?"

"He's still scary, Merry, but he's also a terrible stuffed shirt. He wasn't always like that, but somewhere over the centuries he became more. . human, in the worst sense of the word." The grin faded around the edges.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Just thinking about what might have been. Taranis used to be good for a few laughs, and a drunken brawl or two."

I raised eyebrows. "Taranis? Having a boys' night out on the town? I can't picture it."

"You've known him for only thirty years. He hasn't been at his best." He sat up, got to his feet. "Dibs on the shower."

"If you get it first this morning, I get it first tomorrow," Nicca said.

"Only if you're fast enough," Rhys said, heading for the bathroom.

Nicca's arms slid around my waist, turned me to him. "Let him have his shower." He raised a slender brown hand to trace the waves near my face. He rolled over on his back, drawing me with his hands at my neck and waist. The sheet had rolled off of him, and I saw that he was firm and ripe again.

I half laughed. "Don't you ever grow tired?"

"Of this, never." His face grew more serious, a little less tender. "This with you is the first time I have ever been with a woman and not been afraid."

"What do you mean?"

"The queen is a fearsome thing, Meredith, and she likes her men submissive. I'm not dominant, but I don't enjoy her idea of sex."